Posts Tagged ‘discrimination’

Marriage is an abstract concept that, frankly, most young children don’t fully understand. For them, it’s usually good enough to know that when grown-ups love each other very much and want to be a family together, they get often get married. There’s no need to discuss the tax implications or workplace benefits or hospital visitation rights with a three-year-old. But is it necessary to limit the concept to the traditional one-man-one-woman definition just because you’re talking to a three-year-old? Even if you, personally, are okay with the idea of same-sex marriage? Even if you live in a country where same-sex marriage is legal? Lisa van de Geyn, writing in Today’s Parent, seems to think so, because talking about same-sex marriage is hard.

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day here in the US, a federal holiday. That means that the kids don’t have school so, because I don’t have to get them up and out the door, I get an extra hour of sleep while still heading off to work at the usual time. But I worry about that. I worry that, for most people, that is the extent of the meaning of this day off — a holiday in honor of some dead guy that did something at some point in history. Is that enough, however, or do we, as parents, have a responsibility to our children to make it something more than that?

On the one hand, it is important to recognize the life and accomplishments of the great Martin Luther King, Jr. On the other hand, educating our children is just about the most important task we have as a society. So what do we do when a school district needs to make up for snow days and the only option available seems to be the reverend doctor’s holiday?

It’s almost as if you can’t turn around, these days, without bumping into someone suing someone else over something that seems silly to everyone but the person suing and, possibly, the person being sued. Lawsuits involving kids and schools are no exception — parents seem to sue at the drop of a hat if they feel their precious snowflake has been slighted. Even so, if there really is a problem, sometimes a lawsuit — or the threat of one, anyway — is exactly what’s needed to make things happen. And so, Caleb Laieski has contacted school administrators in Arizona with the threat of a lawsuit if they don’t change their ways. That is, he contacted all of them.

Imagine losing a child — a teenager who is an intelligent, beautiful person with a great future ahead of them. Imagine losing that child not because of some accident of nature or incurable disease but because of something easily preventable. Imagine losing your child because of the thoughtlessness of their peers and the indifference of their teachers. Wendy Walsh doesn’t have to imagine it; she lives it every day.

Four years ago, the city of Philadelphia realized that they were giving a huge subsidy to a community organization to help them serve the citizens of the City of Brotherly Love even though that group systematically discriminated against a large part of the population. So the city told the Boy Scouts of America’s Cradle of Liberty council that they would either have to change their anti-LGBT policies or begin paying fair-market rent for the city-owned, half-acre property that the group had been using as their headquarters for nearly 80 years. Not surprisingly, the Boy Scouts didn’t like that.

Teachers teach their students a lot more than just the three Rs of reading, writing, and ‘rithmatic. They teach kids to have confidence and to try new things. They get kids to strive for excellence and accept loss gracefully. Teachers teach kids how to interact with others, both by telling them directly and by setting an example. In short, teachers teach kids about the real world. Except, perhaps, in Beaverton, Oregon where the real world apparently must be cleaned up and sanitized before telling the precious little snowflakes about it.

While high school is not supposed to be a popularity contest, it’s got to make a parent proud to have their child chosen, by the other students, to be homecoming king. Similarly, it would be absolutely devastating and infuriating to have the school step in and take that title away. That’s what happened to Oakleigh Reed, a senior at Mona Shores High School in Muskegon, Michigan. The teen is happy about the support from the other students, but notes that “sometimes it’s nice to have something tangible.”

Mind you, Reed is no troublemaker that drew votes via threats of violence. Nor was he disqualified for having flunked out of school or being on suspension — the child is an honor student, even. And there was no evidence of misconduct in regards to the vote — “I knew I had a lot of votes,” Reed said, “because people were telling me in the hallway, ‘Hey, I voted for you, I voted for you.'” So why did the school take away Reed’s crown and title?

Okay, I’ll say it. Sometimes, pregnant women can be no fun to be around. I understand, mind you, why — their back hurts, their feet hurt, they feel nauseous, etc. They definitely have a right to be cranky/tired/short-tempered/etc. and we guys smile and take it because that’s our job — to be supportive and caring and positive to help you get through a difficult nine months. But what about the workplace? Should co-workers and bosses have to put up with a pregnant woman’s negative energy? What about her fetus’ negative energy?